Typically, a brake drum or similar article mounted on an axle or shaft is removed by a mechanic tapping the article with a hammer to loosen the article. The tighter the fit of the article on its mounting member, the more force required to remove the article.
Often, such removal will cause damage to the article being removed or to its mounting member or to both, particularly when the fit between the two is very tight. Besides damaging the article at the points where it is hit by the hammer, the bore of the mounting hole in the article or the section of the axle or shaft where the article is mounted can be damaged by impacts of the hammer which are off the axis of the bore and the mounting member.
In recognition of this problem certain removal apparatus has been made available in the past for removal of relatively thin gears and pulleys. Such apparatus includes a slide hammer and a number of rigid hooked members, typically three, connected to the slide hammer with the hook ends of the hooked members adapted to engage one of the planar side surfaces of the gear or pulley. The impact of the slide hammer is transferred through the hooked members to the gear or pulley to loosen the article and move it along its mounting.
While such removal apparatus provides the desirable result of producing an axial force in the removal of the article, it suffers from a number of shortcomings and limitations. Placement of as few as two hooks on the article to be removed and maintaining the hooks in position while the slide hammer is positioned and operated is difficult and can require two mechanics. After one or two of the hooks are positioned on the article, they can fall off easily as the remaining hooks are positioned on the article. In addition, because the hooked members are rigid, there are constraints on the size of the article being removed in that hooked members cannot adapt to the profile of the article.